


Severus

by pipisafoat



Series: H. James Potter [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Pranks, Reincarnation, The Marauders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 20:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17029581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipisafoat/pseuds/pipisafoat
Summary: The (second) first night at Hogwarts for H. James Potter ... and the revival of one of the Marauders’ best pranks.





	Severus

“First years, follow me!” an older student calls in the sudden din of the entire school moving all at once, and James makes a split second decision. He dawdles just slightly, not enough to be noticed, then shoots a light jinx at his shoes that unties his laces and causes them to trip him. He keeps a careful eye on those around him as he reties his laces, then falls into line with the Ravenclaws as though he believes it’s the right spot. 

“I thought we were in the dungeons?” he questions a prefect outside the portrait hole. 

“There you are,” Snape answers from behind him. “Slytherin IS in the dungeons, which raises the question of how you got up here.”

——

He keeps silent during the walk back down the truly absurd number of stairs Hogwarts hosts, answering “Yes Professor Snape” and “No Professor Snape” and, once, “I’m sorry, Professor Snape, I’m not meaning to be rude; I’m just rather tired.” Inside, though, he’s listening to Snivellus’s tirade and cataloguing each reprehensible thing the man is saying. The man believes he’s saying this to an innocent 11-year-old who doesn’t remember his parents? How much would that hurt Harry if James weren’t in his place? Fury grips James’s heart and turns it to ice as he bids his new Head of House a polite goodnight and keeps up the front of lost firstie, asking an older student where he is meant to sleep.

He slides a hand into his pocket, touches the handle of his new wand, and prays to Jesus and all of the old gods that this works: he silently and without wand movements, only channeling through the wand, casts a series of Auror-level wards and enchantments that will only show him readying for bed, reading, or sleeping depending on the time. After a moment’s thought, James adds as many complex shielding spells as he can think of to protect the true first-years in the room should one of his spells go awry. He hesitates before ending it there, but he’s not sure on what to cast next and will need some time in the library first. He wants a ward to both protect him from any spells cast at him while notifying him of the spell so he can pretend to block it or fake its effects, as appropriate.

No time like the present to test his skills. James nods in response to Malfoy’s goodnight - polite enough to choose friendship but cool enough to choose otherwise, a decision James isn’t willing to make yet - and passes through his own spells. Nott watches for a moment while James jumps on his bed to test the spells, but the other boy turns away with a look of disinterest while James is busy mooning him.

Excellent. Time to ... well, hmm. It’s too early to do many of the things he really wants to do, so he settles for some petty revenge. After he pulls up his pants.

Step One: Find a suitable test parchment. James grabs the top bit of parchment from his trunk and lays it in front of himself on the bed, tossing a couple bizarre but simple hexes and charms on it to ensure its receptivity.

Step Two: Clear the parchment of those spells he just cast on it.

Step Three: Think twice, then sneakily nab a bit of parchment from each of the other boys in the dorm, repeating the first two steps on each one.

Step Four: Try to remember the charms involved in the original, then how to modify them for his purposes.

Step Five: Summon every bit of righteous anger at Snivellous’s treatment of his innocent son (while looking past the bizarre circumstances of being said innocent son).

Step Six: Cast. Check as best he can. Do a seated jig of triumph. 

Step Seven: Check time (late), check bed spells (showing him sleeping), and hurriedly change and sleep himself.

——

Delivery is going to be the trickiest bit, James acknowledges in the morning. Then again, maybe it won’t be. 250 or so students who will be turning in Potions homework? Yeah, that number is going to be the hardest part for sure. It’s a good thing that James’s likely magical exhaustion can be mistaken for Harry’s first-year, first-day incompetence.

Delivery comes naturally, in the end. James recalls a delightful little trick Mad-Eye taught him back when he was an Auror and draws his wand under the table. There’s no way for him to do the spell wandlessly, but wordlessly is easy enough. He imagines the shape of a widespread cheering charm, begins to cast it, but pulls back as soon as the magic reaches the tip of his wand. Then, he starts to pack in each of the spells he’d determined last night he needed, squishing then tightly against each other and inside the shape of the cheering charm. He manages to get every single spell into his wand with (very little) room to spare, finishes the cheering charm, and casts it over the entire Great Hall.

Three people take credit for the cheering charm, which suits James just fine. He’s far safer flying well under the radar for now.

——

He still intends to reclaim the Marauders’ Map, and soon, but the knowledge that every piece of Potions homework is insulting Snivellus is enough to tide him over.

After all, he’ll need to learn some Slytherin subtlety before retrieving his map.


End file.
